It poured rain and thundered so loudly the night before it merited an orange storm warning. I’ve only seen yellow warnings. But in the morning, there seemed to be little evidence of the storm. I wondered if it would affect the outdoor areas at Villa d’Este but decided to go and find out. I put on my raincoat and took an umbrella. There were lots of grey clouds.

Villa d’Este was built in the 1600s by Ippolito d’Este. He came from the Este family who were rulers of Ferrara. The family had connections to the French royal family which made them a very high status family in Italy. His mother was Lucretia Borgia and thus grandson of Pope Alexander VI. His uncle was ruler of Ferrara. His aunt was Isabella d’Este who married the Duke of Mantua. Another aunt, Beatrice d’Este, married Ludovico Sforza, for a while the ruler of Milan, and while ruler, had Leonardo da Vinci working for him.

So, Ippolito had expectations that he would become pope. When he realized he would not get elected pope, he supported the winner and was rewarded with by being made lifetime governor of Tivoli. He retreated to Tivoli, effectively quit church politics and around 1549 started building the Villa d’Este in a Mannerist style (a late Renaissance style).

The d’Este family, both men and women, were famous as patrons of the arts so the interior of the villa building is covered with paintings mostly glorifying the d’Este family—eagles and lilies or specifically, fleur-di-lis are part of the family coat of arms—and appear everywhere. There are also depictions referring to the founding of Tivoli, which involved Hercules.

So mythic stories are part of the decoration.

And surprisingly few Christian or biblical images for someone who wanted to become pope. The below was in a chapel.

A lot of images focus on the Villa’s gardens for which it is now famous. The vast gardens took advantage of the steep grounds both to create views and waterfalls. The below shows an early concept of what the gardens were to look like.

Views of the steep drop and far off areas are seen from almost all the rooms intended for visitors.

The villa also used to house statues that were taken from Hadrian’s Villa. Many of those have gone to museums.

The garden has a general theme of connecting Tivoli to Rome. Some displays refer to the river Aniene, a tributary of the Tiber, and which was diverted for the water in the gardens. Below the Pegasus fountain refers to the myth of the source of the Tiber water suggesting it starts in Tivoli.

The Hundred Fountains symbolizes the water that physically flows from Tivoli to Rome.

The Hundred Fountains has some interesting animal faces for spouts.

The gardens are basically three tiers with sub-tiers and many interconnecting paths and stairs. The lowest level has fish ponds.

The fountain at one end of the ponds has spectacular waterfalls as well.

This tableau has many symbols about the founding of Rome, the most obvious being the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus.

Not sure why this goddess is part of the scheme.

This is called the organ fountain because it used to use hydraulics to make musical sounds with falling water. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work anymore.

Another large fountain

Dragon fountain which is in the centre of the gardens

The Fontana del Bicchierone, or big cup fountain, was designed by Bernini.

I did a quick sketch.

After over three hours, I figured it was time to leave and get some fortifying gelato. Marianne gelateria had good nocciola and very good cioccolato fondente.

Since the sun was out, I walked around the area near Villa D’Este where I had not walked when I first arrived. It was full of steep streets and old interesting looking buildings.

Below shows a door so low I think I would have to duck to go through.

I found the “Duomo”, the main church of the city, San Lorenzo, but it was not open.

This neglected fountain is at the end of the street of the B&B.

After an hour, I convinced myself that I had walked off the gelato.